Girls with Goals for Air time!

[SnowHot]

Adventurous Diva or Timid groomer skier?

I'm somewhere in the middle.
I have limited skiing experience outside my own state.
I have a comfort zone that is the groomed, but a tad of experience in the trees, and a HUGE desire to get into the back country. I've never hucked anything over 3'(don't laugh:D ) and I want Tyrone Shoelaces to shove me off a cliff so I can get over myself

*Maybe I need to be sure and have my Blue Cross card handy?

 

[altagirl]

I don't see any insult here but I do see some intense explanation that there is a HUGE variety of skiing to be had through the gates of the ski resorts. I'm glad this thread has has so much educated involvement. I am feeling far more enlightened than I had thought possible in a Ski Magazine rant thread.
It still is a fun thread!!!

One observation I see is this:
Not so long ago there was a Ski Magazine rant thread on Epic complaining about the vast amount of articles on the "groomers" and nothing on the back country and tree skiing.
That sure is a different perspective than this thread.

BTW, I'm somewhere in the middle.
I have limited skiing experience outside my own state.
I have a comfort zone that is the groomed, but a tad of experience in the trees, and a HUGE desire to get into the back country. I've never hucked anything over 3'(don't laugh:D ) and I want Tyrone Shoelaces to shove me off a cliff so I can get over myself

*Maybe I need to be sure and have my Blue Cross card handy?

I wasn't trying to be insulting either, though I think I got a bit defensive because I felt like there was the insinuation that my views don't count because I'm not the "typical intermediate" skier. I'm a skier too, dang-it! ;) Sorry to make assumptions on where you ski, treebunny.

I think I just have a different view on the numbers of skiers in each category. On the average day at Alta, I would say well over 75% of the people there are there to ski off-piste. (On a powder day, that's probably 95%) Maybe my home resort is an anomaly. Maybe I'm the anomaly. I don't know.

And Snow-Hot - have you met Tyrone? He's a blast. I won't jump off of anything even close to what he's doing, but he's fun to watch and ski with (and has great technique in bumps too). He went to the first Straightline Adventures camp that I did last year, and we mountain biked with him in Moab this summer too (YAY, something I can keep up with him at!). I can't see him pushing anyone off a cliff though... he's way too nice! ;)

 

[SnowHot]

w.

And Snow-Hot - have you met Tyrone? He's a blast. I won't jump off of anything even close to what he's doing, but he's fun to watch and ski with (and has great technique in bumps too). He went to the first Straightline Adventures camp that I did last year, and we mountain biked with him in Moab this summer too (YAY, something I can keep up with him at!). I can't see him pushing anyone off a cliff though... he's way too nice! ;)

I haven't met Tyrone! But on Epic, he promised me he'd give me a shove if I asked him:D

The skiing isn't a fear for me, its the air time. I just gotta get over that!

 

[Thatsagirl]

I want to ski with Tyrone too! :D

I need help with air (LITTLE airs, no cliffs for me, thank you very much) and chutes. Maybe we'll have to arrange a ski date with him and offer to buy dinner and beer afterwards. :D

Altagirl, I don't think your home mountain is an anomoly. I think it's figured out its niche market and caters to it, just as some other mountains do (my home mountain of Jay comes to mind). Just as those mountains cater to the off-piste crowd, resorts like Okemo and Keystone cater to the groomed terrain crowd.

I think probably what's hard for skiers who prefer the groomers is to figure out which resorts have the most variety for them. Magazines used to cover this information A LOT because that was the bulk of the skier market, but now that the skiing market has so many segments, magazines have lost that focus. Now they try to cover everything for every market, and it doesn't work...just like not all ski resorts can appeal to all skiers, but they say they do in their marketing hype.

 

[altagirl]

I want to ski with Tyrone too! :D

I need help with air (LITTLE airs, no cliffs for me, thank you very much) and chutes. Maybe we'll have to arrange a ski date with him and offer to buy dinner and beer afterwards. :D

Sounds good to me! Or we should all do Gordy's camp next year and have a girls who want to get some air group!

They did a good job of getting the pucker factor up there with the chutes in the one I did this year. With the low snow coverage, there were chutes that I've skied before that didn't even look possible to me standing at the top - just a big pile of pointy, jagged rocks all over the place. But Steve made us traverse through the rocks, do a kick turn and drop in and whaddya know - it was easier than I thought!

 

[Thatsagirl]

They did a good job of getting the pucker factor up there with the chutes in the one I did this year. With the low snow coverage, there were chutes that I've skied before that didn't even look possible to me standing at the top - just a big pile of pointy, jagged rocks all over the place. But Steve made us traverse through the rocks, do a kick turn and drop in and whaddya know - it was easier than I thought!

That does not sound reassuring to me at all! :o :p

But I have found myself in places where I thought "I'll never get out of this" so it's important to know HOW to get down whatever I might come across. Thing about living on the East Coast is I am not subjected to this kind of stuff on a daily basis, I have to learn on those trips I make out West, so while I can probably technically do it, I don't have that feeling of being "comfortable" doing it.

Maybe after my trip to southern CO at the end of this month, I'll feel more like I've found my comfort zone...

Thatsagirl

 

[altagirl]

That does not sound reassuring to me at all! :o :p

But I have found myself in places where I thought "I'll never get out of this" so it's important to know HOW to get down whatever I might come across. Thing about living on the East Coast is I am not subjected to this kind of stuff on a daily basis, I have to learn on those trips I make out West, so while I can probably technically do it, I don't have that feeling of being "comfortable" doing it.

Maybe after my trip to southern CO at the end of this month, I'll feel more like I've found my comfort zone...

Thatsagirl

But that's why you do it with a guide who can "talk you down"! Steve, one of our coaches is a seasoned patroller at Alta and a heli guide in Alaska for part of the year. Gordy has done a good job of convincing me to ski really tight chutes (not much bigger than the width of your skis) that I wouldn't have done on my own either. Having someone there that you trust to tell you what to do with your body positioning and what to think about is so incredibly helpful. Then going back and doing it again is no big deal!

 

[Thatsagirl]

But that's why you do it with a guide who can "talk you down"! Steve, one of our coaches is a seasoned patroller at Alta and a heli guide in Alaska for part of the year. Gordy has done a good job of convincing me to ski really tight chutes (not much bigger than the width of your skis) that I wouldn't have done on my own either. Having someone there that you trust to tell you what to do with your body positioning and what to think about is so incredibly helpful. Then going back and doing it again is no big deal!

You are spot on. Maybe I'll have to fit a camp into my budget. ;)

 

[SnowHot]

THis thread was seeded by a question about the content of ski magazines, and yet, I truly have a goal to do some things that would have never crossed my mind 5 years ago.

My new years resolutions were something like this:
1) Get better in bumps - I have although I'm not great
2) Get more comfortable with air time - I am more comfortable but still not as much as I thought I would be at this point
3) Compete a helicopter by season end - Not there yet and won't likely do it :o

I got comfy with as much as 3 feet of air time but didn't get it on film. With sticky snow, and deteriorating conditions I got a friend to video me. So here is a video of a pathetic 12" jump (if that) and still an accomplishment for someone who didn't do air at all a year ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXSuHzOWXnw

I'm darn proud of the little accomplishments, and will do the heli next year!!!

Here's a still taken from that video.

 

[persee]

Go You!

Airtime is one of the areas I was really looking forward to expanding this season. Unfortunately with how little I've gotten out and the conditions present I didnt' get any good opportunities. I did take what little I could find tho! 12" is certainly much more than 1" so just keep going. I'd be psyched to have even that on film!

 

[SnowHot]

Thanks persee!

Now, the heli.

You and me both for next season???
I think we can do it!

My friends joked that I'd never get more than a CC jump(CC=credit card) My old jump was a CC jump. You could slip a cc under my skis with the air I got.

Good bye CC Jump. Hello 12"!

 

[ski now work later]

I got some air time at the beginner terrain park at Stratton a few weeks ago at a lesson. It was scary and thrilling all at once. The jumps were HUGE though it wasn't necessary to take much air. Having the instructor with me increased my confidence 150%. I watched the boyz at the Vermont Freestyle Open last week take biggg air and do flips and twists and was inspired. We'll see what next season brings. I'll need a coach to get braver. Once I can do some of this stuff in the park and I get to be a stronger powder skiier, I can try some little backcountry hucking. I'm planning to take a 4 day women's clinic at Jackson Hole in March 2010 for my 50th birthday!

And I'm just an aspiring intermediate East Coast skiier completing her 3rd season this week.:D

 

[num]

Ski now work later, nice advanced planning! I'm a first season intermediate with lofty plans of birthday trip heliskiing in Alaska at the end of May 2009. Shortly after my first time on skis, I told two of my best friends that they need to start saving up for my 25th birthday trip to Alaska, provided I manage to rack up the necessary skills by then. If I'm not up to snuff by then, then they get an extra year to get their funds together, but this trip is gonna happen sometime! :D

 

[Squaw]

You all are an inspiring lot! Love the notion of the CC jump. Wait until I tell that to my teenage son...

I've skied, hmm, well a lot of years, and still find air a challenge. Actually any blind terrain, where I cannot see the landing or the run out. I once went over rocks, so I get a little spooky, especially in ice, where the fall line would hurt. :D

My family claims I suffer from cornicophobia: a fear of cornices.

I have gotten better, due to compassionate coaching in clinics..."come on, Jen, right behind me..." " Whoops, hey! I did it."

So my goal is to move fluidly down the slope, popping over small obstacles / airing as I go.

Jen

 

[SkiMonster]

I sometimes find I have a mental block to jump. On the one hand, I wanted to try on our very first trip when I learned to ski (cart before the horse much?) and have been TRYING to get off of little lumps and bumps since then; but the most i've ever managed is probably 2 or 3 inches, or the credit card variety, because i'll get right up to whatever i intend to 'jump' off of and my body chickens out all on its own.

I'm STARTING to get over that; it was a goal for this year; and I guess it will be a goal for next year. Whenever the discussion of my husband's years ago trip to Steamboat, and his desire to go again, comes up, he keeps telling me about all the awesome rocks you can jump off becuase there's more snow...
I better be ready!

I'd be beyond thrilled with Snowhot's 12" right now!

I too have a goal to travel and do some sort of women's clinic one day; for me I plan to do it when I finally get done school & have my first job going. (edit - well; i mean, my first 'real' job; i've had plenty of 'whatever i can get for now' jobs.)

 

[Gloria]

4 point landing

The trick to catching air comfortably is to master the 4 point landing.
When you hit the jump, extend your body upwards, align your hips over your feet ( like snowhots picture ) and put your arms in front of you. When you land your skis and poles should touch the ground at the same time. You don't necessarily stab your poles into the ground
you use them to maintain a fore position. It is when your arms are flailing off to the sides that your balance is off in your landing and this is what makes jumps scary. Get your arms out front and you will be airing big in no time.

 

[RachelV]

Heh, my husband and I definitely started this season with CC jumps. The last few weekends we've gone skiing we've been spending more and more time in the terrain park, though... not really sure how it happened, but we're both getting a lot better. He's into the jumps and is probably up to 8-12 inches of air. I'm getting a kick out the boxes. Here are some pics I pieced together:

Next stop: rails!

 

[marta]

Now that I've got boots that fit right, getting air is not so scary. I guess it's because I no longer have that feeling I'm going to jump out of my boots while my skis remain on the snow. ;)